TB Prevalence in Tanzania

A total of 65,902 cases of all forms were notified in 2016, which shows an increase of 5.6% or 3507 cases compared to the year 2015. Among the cases notified, new and relapse cases were 64,404 (95.5%) of which 27,655 (39%) were bacteriological confirmed. Table 2 below shows the comparison of TB notification in 2015 and 2016 by TB classification groups.

Tuberculosis cases notified in Tanzania 2015 – 2016

Indicators

2015

2016

Change

Cases

%

Cases

%

numb.

%

All forms

62,180

65902

3580

5.9

New Cases

Bacteriological confirmed TB cases

24,290

39.1

25,955

39.4

1,665

6.9

Pulmonary Clinically diagnosed TB cases

22,777

36.6

23,539

35.7

762

3.3

Extra-pulmonary Clinically diagnosed

12,679

20.4

13,336

20.2

657

5.2

Total

59,746

96.1

62,830

95.3

3,084

5.2

Previously treated

Relapse

1,149

1.8

1,779

2.7

630

54.8

Treatment after Failure

99

0.2

143

0.2

44

44.4

Return after lost to follow up

244

0.4

268

0.4

24

9.8

Other previously treated

942

1.5

882

1.3

-60

-6.4

Total

2,576

4.1

3,072

4.7

496

19.3

Tuberculosis Notifications By Region

Dar es Salaam city has remained as the major contributor of TB cases notification contributing making 20% of all cases notified. There was considerable regional variation as in the previous years with 50% of cases being contributed by only 6 regions - Dar- es-Salaam, Mwanza, Mbeya, Morogoro, Arusha and Tanga. The data indicated that 15 regions notified below the national average of 129 cases per 100,000 population.

Tuberculosis Notification Rate

The notification rate of new and relapses TB cases was 129 cases per 100,000 population which was slightly higher compared to that of 2015 that was 125 per 100,000 population. Dar es Salaam region had the highest TB notification rates in the country at 244 cases per 100,000, Kigoma region has the lowest TB case notification rate of 45 cases per 100,000, followed by Unguja (46) and Katavi and Rukwa at 59.

Ten regions has notification rate of above national average are: Dar es Salaam; Iringa; Pwani; Arusha; Manyara; Njombe; Lindi; Mtwara Kilimanjaro and Mbeya. The notifications rates for Unguja and Pemba have been presented separately but in comparison to administrative regions in the Mainland. The figure below shows notification rate of TB cases by regions and Zanzibar.